How to fight hospital malnourishment in an uncouncious patient?!
Question:
How to fight hospital malnourishment in an uncouncious patient?
My father-in-law was riding his bicycle when he was hit by a car in China. He has been unconscious ever since. That was a month ago. It seems the longer that he is in the hospital the skinnier he gets. Is this because they are not giving him enough nourishment to keep him from withering away? This has been very heart breaking for our family.
Additional Details1 month ago
he is 65, Chinese. He has no living. My wife and I are currently all the support that her mom, brother and father are getting. The doctors have only said that he is improving twice since he has been admitted to the hospital. Every other day they tell the brother and mom that they need to prepare for him to die.
Thanks for your help.
1 month ago
We have also been told that the hospital he is in is not a good one. When I was there people were smoking just down the hall from the neurological ward. He is not in ICU. I am not sure the hospital even has an ICU.
You can read more at
http://linsfather.org
1 month ago
I think they are feeding him through a tube into his stomach through his nose. But I am not sure.
Answers:
Ni hao. I understand your situation.
Unconscious people get skinnier, because of two things. One is that they lose the fat that they accumulate when eating normally. Your father is on "enteral feeding" or feeding through a tube that runs from the nose to the abdomen, or what doctors will call and NGT. No matter how much nutrition you give a patient, his stomach has a limited capacity, and a person needs to move so that all of his organs will also be stimulate to move.
Number 2 reason is that since your father is not moving by himself, he is not using his muscles, a term called muscle wasting. The muscles will get smaller when they are not used. Even when a physical therapist will move him passively, he will still get thinner.
I know that this is hard for your family. ICU may give better care, but you won't get to visit him as often or stay as long because one of ICU's protocol is less visitor and less visiting time. I also do not think that those doctors are that mean to harm your father. Both of your family and the team of doctors are doing their best to help your father.